Representative of the prior art and background for the present invention is U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,757 having V. E. Bischoff, as inventor, and entitled "Guard Drop Technique for Ink Jet Systems". This patent describes a technique for inserting guard drops on an alternate basis between each drop to be printed. Thus, each printed drop is separated from a succeeding or preceding printed drop by a guard drop. The techniques described herein comprise a significant advance in relation to the prior art by controlling the system in order to insert guard drops on a variable basis, depending upon the positional relationships and number of printed drops in the drop sequences encountered during printing.